In early 2023, after a wave of defaults shook China’s property industry to its core, one of the country’s largest and most trusted developers struck a note of quiet confidence.

“We are one of the few companies that can still rely on its own creditworthiness,” said state-linked China Vanke, the second-largest homebuilder in the country last year. It said it had overcome “numerous difficulties” to deliver 340,000 homes in 2022, more than were built in the UK over the same period.

A year on, that confidence has turned to concern after rating agency Moody’s downgraded the company this week and estimated sales had fallen 40 per cent in January and February compared with a year ago, part of a property slowdown in China that began with the 2021 default of China Evergrande and which shows few signs of abating.